The definition of a community land trust is: a nonprofit corporation which acquires and manages land on behalf of the residents of a place-based community, while preserving affordability and preventing foreclosures for any housing located upon its land.

It is a legal agreement that sets up a type of home ownership known as a leasehold. A good way to explain this from the side of a home owner is that you can own the house, but the land beneath it belongs to a trust.